Bacon, Egg and Cheese Strata
Published Dec. 19, 2024
- Total Time
- 3 hours 35 minutes
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 20 minutes plus at least 2 hours’ chilling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1(11- to 13-ounce) package brioche sandwich rolls or kaiser sandwich rolls, cut into approximately 2-inch chunks (12 cups)
- 12ounces thick-cut bacon, each strip cut into 4 even pieces
- 18large eggs
- 1½ cups whole milk
- ¼cup finely chopped chives, plus more for serving
- Salt and pepper
- Crushed red pepper
- 8ounces sharp Cheddar, coarsely grated (about 2½ cups)
- Butter, for greasing the pan
- Hot sauce, for serving
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Step 2
Arrange bread chunks in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Arrange the bacon in a single layer on a second rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. Place both sheets in the oven at the same time. Bake the bread chunks until they are dried out and lightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove from the sheet pan and set aside. Bake the bacon until crispy, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and place bacon on a paper towel-lined plate to soak up excess grease and set aside. If baking the strata the next day, wrap bacon and refrigerate.
- Step 3
In a very large bowl, whisk 12 of the eggs. When eggs are fully whisked, add milk, chives, 1½ teaspoons each salt and pepper and a pinch of crushed red pepper, and whisk until everything is fully incorporated.
- Step 4
Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Arrange the toasted bread pieces in a (mostly) single layer in the pan. Pour the egg mixture over the bread and cover the baking dish tightly. Place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or up to overnight, allowing the bread to soak up some of the egg mixture.
- Step 5
Bake the strata: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the strata from the fridge and uncover. Evenly tuck the crispy bacon pieces in between the chunks of bread. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake until the top begins to firm but the strata is still slightly wet underneath, about 20 minutes.
- Step 6
Pull the baking dish out of the oven and sprinkle the cheese evenly on top of the strata. Using the back of a large spoon, create 6 indentations across the top of the strata. Crack the remaining 6 eggs into the indentations and season each egg with salt and pepper. Return the baking dish to the oven and bake until egg whites are just set, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Step 7
Serve immediately, garnished with chopped chives, with hot sauce on the side.
Private Notes
Comments
there is a great recipe on here for a "bacon, egg and cheese sandwich" which is great for one person - this recipe is meant to make them for a crowd all at once! when the opportunity arises, i hope you'll try it!
So much for strata being an uncomplicated dish that you assemble the day before, refrigerate, pull out of the fridge in the morning, throw in the oven while you make the coffee, and then serve to your houseful of guests. I'm sure it is delicious, and when I have an hour in the morning to cook a full breakfast, on top of the nearly an hour of prep and pre-cook the night before, I might try it. But it kinda defeats the purpose for which most people make a strata - at least in my world.
It literally says "crowd-pleasing" and 6-8 servings. It's holiday time, so people often have guests even if they're single.
This was the star of Easter brunch, even amongst the pickiest of eaters. I ommitted the egg "toppers" but whisked more into the mix (16 total). My only other tweak is to watch the bacon carefully - I incinerated the first batch at 15 minutes and had to run out for more bacon (fortunately I did this prep the night before so it wasn't a crisis). 12 minutes for the thick-cut bacon was perfect. My 11 year old, who I assumed wouldn't even try the strata, has already requested it for his lunch tomorrow!
Made this for a trip with 4 families, 8 adults and 8 kids. I made two, one with baked eggs on top and one without (to make sure the kids weren’t scared off by the baked eggs visual). Huge hit. We demolished both. I did add more scrambled eggs on top of the dish before baking because the egg to bread ratio looked a little too bready after soaking overnight. So delicious, I’ll definitely make it again!
Easy to assemble and delicious. Would work well without the eggs on top or if you wanted to just serve with poached eggs for a fancy dish. This is a filling, hearty, savory bread pudding like strata I’m going to be making again and again. The only “difficulty” in this recipe is waiting to eat it!
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